Tata Steel Chess Tournament

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Steel to form the Corus Group in 1999, after which the tournament was renamed the Corus Chess Tournament. Corus Group was taken over by the Tata Group and became Tata Steel Europe in 2007, with the tournament changing to its current name in 2011. It has also been referred to as "Wijk aan Zee" since the venue change from the town of Beverwijk to the town of Wijk aan Zee in 1968. Despite the name changes, the series is numbered sequentially from its Hoogovens beginnings; for example, the 2025 event was referred to as the 87th Tata Steel Chess Tournament.

Top grandmasters compete in the tournament, but regular club players are welcome to play in the lower groups. The Masters group pits fourteen of the world's best players against each other in a round-robin tournament, and has sometimes been described as the "Wimbledon of Chess". Since 1938, there has been a long list of very strong winners; of the fifteen undisputed World Chess Champions since the first tournament in 1938, only five – Alexander Alekhine, Vasily Smyslov, Bobby Fischer, Ding Liren and Gukesh Dommaraju– have not won it. In 2001, nine of the top ten players in the world participated.

Magnus Carlsen holds the record for most wins at the tournament, with eight. Viswanathan Anand is the only other player to have won the event five or more times, with five titles to his name. Nodirbek Abdusattorov is the current champion after winning in 2026.

Until recently, players ending on the same score shared the title. The first tie-break was held in 2018, with Magnus Carlsen defeating Anish Giri to clinch the title. As of the 2025 edition, if two or more players lead with the same score at the end of the round-robin, they all take part in the tiebreaks to determine the sole winner. The time control of the tiebreaks is blitz, and then sudden death.

Tournament history

Hoogovens Beverwijk The early tournaments were very small, starting with groups of four in 1938, and entry restricted to Dutch players. The first four tournaments continued this way, until 1942, when it was expanded to six players, and in 1943 to eight players. No tournament was held in 1945 due to World War II. The first international tournament was held in 1946, with the field expanded to ten, and invitations to Alberic O'Kelly de Galway (Belgium) and Gösta Stoltz (Sweden) along with a Dutch contingent of eight.

The 1946 tournament was one of the first European international chess tournaments after World War II. Food shortages were still a problem in Europe, so the post-tournament banquet featured pea soup, "inexpensive fare of the common people". In subsequent years pea soup has been served as the first course of the concluding banquet, a tradition continued when the tournament was moved from Beverwijk to Wijk aan Zee.

The tournament field was increased to twelve in 1953, and an international women's tournament was also held. In 1954, the tournament field was returned to ten players, but the strength of the competitions increased. The field was greatly enlarged to 18 in 1963, and although it reduced to 16 in 1964, the event had become the strongest international chess tournament in the world.

As the tournament grew in stature, it began to offer lower groups such as a B-group (sometimes called "Challengers" in contrast to group-A or "Masters"), and occasionally a C-group. There also began a tradition to operate a year on year policy of inviting the winner of the B-group to the A-group.

The winners of the top group were: {| class="sortable wikitable" |+ ! scope=col |# ! scope=col | Year ! scope=col | Winner(s) ! scope=col | Country ! scope="col" | Score ! scope=col | |- ! scope=row rowspan="2" |1 | rowspan="2" |1938 | | Netherlands | rowspan="2" |2½/3 | rowspan="2" |83.3

| Netherlands |- ! scope=row |2 |1939 | | Netherlands |3/3 |100.0 |- ! scope=row |3 |1940 | | Netherlands |3/3 |100.0 |- ! scope=row |4 |1941 | | Netherlands |2½/3 |83.3 |- ! scope=row |5 |1942 | | Netherlands |4½/5 |90.0 |- ! scope=row |6 |1943 | | Netherlands |5½/7 |78.6 |- ! scope=row |7 |1944 | | Netherlands |5/7 |71.4 |- ! scope=row |– |1945 | align="center" bgcolor="#f5f5f5" |No competition

! scope=row |8 |1946 | | Belgium |7/9 |77.8 |- ! scope=row |9 |1947 | | Netherlands |7½/9 |83.3 |- ! scope=row |10 |1948 | | Netherlands |6½/9 |72.2 |- ! scope=row |11 |1949 | | France |6½/9 |72.2 |- ! scope=row |12 |1950 | | Netherlands |7/9 |77.8 |- ! scope=row |13 |1951 | | Argentina |6½/9 |72.2 |- ! scope=row |14 |1952 | | Netherlands |7½/9 |83.3 |- ! scope=row |15 |1953 | | France |9/11 |81.8 |- ! scope=row rowspan="2"|16 |rowspan="2" |1954 | | Netherlands | rowspan="2" |6/9 |rowspan="2" |66.7

| SFR Yugoslavia |- ! scope=row |17 |1955 | | SFR Yugoslavia |6½/9 |72.2 |- ! scope=row |18 |1956 | | Sweden |6½/9 |72.2 |- ! scope=row |19 |1957 | | SFR Yugoslavia |6½/9 |72.2 |- ! scope=row rowspan="2" |20 |rowspan="2" |1958 | | Netherlands | rowspan="2" |5½/9 |rowspan="2" |61.1

| Netherlands |- ! scope=row |21 |1959 | | Iceland |7½/9 |83.3 |- ! scope=row rowspan="2" |22 |rowspan="2" |1960 | | Denmark | rowspan="2" |6½/9 |rowspan="2" |72.2

| SFR Yugoslavia |- ! scope=row |24 |1962 | | SFR Yugoslavia |6/9 |66.7 |- ! scope=row |25 |1963 | | Netherlands |12/17 |70.6 |- ! scope=row rowspan="2" |26 |rowspan="2" |1964 | | Soviet Union | rowspan="2" |11½/15 |rowspan="2" |76.6

| Soviet Union |- ! scope=row |28 |1966 | | Soviet Union |11½/15 |76.6 |- ! scope=row |29 |1967 | | Soviet Union |11/15 |73.3

Hoogovens Wijk aan Zee

The tournament was moved to the Dutch seaside town Wijk aan Zee in 1968. Starting from 1982, the tournament mostly settled to its present number of 14 players. The winners of the top group were: {| class="sortable wikitable" |+ ! scope=col | # ! scope=col | Year ! scope=col | Winner(s) ! scope=col | Country ! scope="col" | Score ! scope=col | |- ! scope=row |30 |1968 | | Soviet Union |12/15 |80.0 |- ! scope=row rowspan="2" |31 | rowspan="2" |1969 | | Soviet Union | rowspan="2" |10½/15 | rowspan="2" |70.0

| Soviet Union |- ! scope=row |32 |1970 | | Soviet Union |12/15 |80.0 |- ! scope=row |33 |1971 | | Soviet Union |10/15 |66.7 |- ! scope=row |34 |1972 | | Hungary |10½/15 |70.0 |- ! scope=row |35 |1973 | | Soviet Union |10½/15 |70.0 |- ! scope=row |36 |1974 | | United States |11/15 |73.3 |- ! scope=row |37 |1975 | | Hungary |10½/15 |70.0 |- ! scope=row rowspan="2" |38 | rowspan="2" |1976 | | SFR Yugoslavia | rowspan="2" |7½/11 | rowspan="2" |68.2

| Soviet Union |- ! scope=row |40 |1978 | | Hungary |8/11 |72.7 |- ! scope=row |41 |1979 | | Soviet Union |7½/11 |68.2 |- ! scope=row rowspan="2" |42 | rowspan="2" |1980 | | United States | rowspan="2" |10/13 | rowspan="2" |76.9

| Soviet Union |- ! scope=row |45 |1983 | | Sweden |9/13 |69.2 |- ! scope=row rowspan="2" |46 | rowspan="2" |1984 | | Soviet Union | rowspan="2" |10/13 | rowspan="2" |76.9

| Switzerland |- ! scope=row |47 |1985 | | Netherlands |9/13 |69.2 |- ! scope=row |48 |1986 | | England |9½/13 |73.1 |- ! scope=row rowspan="2" |49 | rowspan="2" |1987 | | England | rowspan="2" |9½/13 | rowspan="2" |73.1

| Switzerland |- ! scope=row |50 |1988 | | Soviet Union |9/13 |69.2 |- ! scope=row rowspan="4" |51 | rowspan="4" |1989 | | India | rowspan="4" |7½/13 | rowspan="4" |57.7

| Hungary

| SFR Yugoslavia |- ! scope=row |52 |1990 | | England |8/13 |61.5 |- ! scope=row |53 |1991 | | England |8½/13 |65.4 |- ! scope=row rowspan="2" |54 | rowspan="2" |1992 | | Russia | rowspan="2" |8½/13 | rowspan="2" |65.4

| Belarus |- ! scope=row |55 |1993 | | Russia |2½/4

! scope=row |56 |1994 | | Bosnia and Herzegovina |7/9 |77.8 |- ! scope=row |57 |1995 | | Russia |2½/4

! scope=row |58 |1996 | | Ukraine |9/13 |69.2 |- ! scope=row |59 |1997 | | Russia |8½/13 |65.4 |- ! scope=row rowspan="2" |60 | rowspan="2" |1998 | | India | rowspan="2" |8½/13 | rowspan="2" |65.4

| Russia |- ! scope=row |61 |1999 | | Russia |10/13 |76.9

Corus tournament

From 2000, the formal name for the tournament was changed to the "Corus Chess Tournament". The winners of the A-group were: {| class="sortable wikitable" |+ ! scope=col | # ! scope=col | Year ! scope=col | Winner(s) ! scope=col | Country ! scope="col" | Score ! scope="col | |- ! scope=row |62 |2000 | | Russia |9½/13 |73.1 |- ! scope=row |63 |2001 | | Russia |9/13 |69.2 |- ! scope=row |64 |2002 | | Russia |9/13 |69.2 |- ! scope=row |65 |2003 | | India |8½/13 |65.4 |- ! scope=row |66 |2004 | | India |8½/13 |65.4 |- ! scope=row |67 |2005 | |Hungary |8½/13 |65.4 |- ! scope=row rowspan="2" |68 | rowspan="2" |2006 | | India | rowspan="2" |9/13 | rowspan="2" |69.2

| Azerbaijan

| Norway |- ! scope=row |71 |2009 | | Ukraine |8/13 |61.5 |- ! scope=row |72 |2010 | | Norway |8½/13 |65.4

Tata Steel tournament

From 2011, the formal name changed to the "Tata Steel Chess Tournament". The winners of the Masters section were: {| class="sortable wikitable" |+ ! scope=col | # ! scope=col | Year ! scope=col | Winner ! scope=col | Country ! scope=col" |Score ! scope=col | |- ! scope=row |73 |2011 | | United States |9/13 |69.2 |- ! scope=row |74 |2012 | | Armenia |9/13 |69.2 |- ! scope=row |75 |2013 | | Norway |10/13 |76.9 |- ! scope=row |76 |2014 | | Armenia |8/11 |72.7 |- ! scope=row |77 |2015 | | Norway |9/13 |69.2 |- ! scope=row |78 |2016 | | Norway |9/13 |69.2 |- ! scope=row |79 |2017 | | United States |9/13 |69.2 |- ! scope=row |80 |2018 | | Norway |9/13 |69.2 |- ! scope=row |81 |2019 | | Norway |9/13 |69.2 |- ! scope=row |82 |2020 | | United States |10/13 |76.9 |- ! scope=row |83 |2021 | | Netherlands |8½/13 |65.4 |- ! scope=row |84 |2022 | | Norway |9½/13 |73.1 |- ! scope=row |85 |2023 | | Netherlands |8½/13 |65.4 |- ! scope=row |86 |2024 | | China |8½/13 |65.4 |- ! scope=row |87 |2025 | | India |8½/13 |65.4 |- !88 |2026 |Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Uzbekistan |9/13 |69.2

Multiple winners The following players have won the tournament more than once; years where they shared the title are bolded.

+PlayerCountryWinsTournaments Won Norway8 (1 shared)2008, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022 India5 (3 shared)1989, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2006 Netherlands4 (1 shared)1940, 1942, 1952, 1958 Armenia4 (2 shared)2007, 2008, 2012, 2014 Soviet Union Switzerland4 (2 shared)1968, 1971, 1984, 1987 Hungary4 (1 shared)1965, 1972, 1975, 1978 Netherlands3 (1 shared)1950, 1958, 1963 Soviet Union3 (3 shared)1965, 1969, 1977 Russia31999, 2000, 2001 England3 (1 shared)1982, 1990, 1991 United States2 (1 shared)1974, 1980 Soviet Union Russia21988, 1993 Denmark2 (2 shared)1960, 1961 SFR Yugoslavia Bosnia and Herzegovina 2 (1 shared)1989, 1994 Iceland2 (1 shared)1959, 1976 Soviet Union21966, 1979 Russia2 (1 shared)1992, 1997 Netherlands2 (2 shared)1977, 1981 England2 (1 shared)1986, 1987 Netherlands2 (1 shared)1981, 1985 Bulgaria2 (2 shared)2006, 2007 Netherlands21944, 1947

See also List of strong chess tournaments

Notes

References

External links

Tata Steel Chess Tournament

Bron en licentie